20-Dec-06 : Holiday Support 2006
Infection Music will close down for the Christmas Break at 1700 hours on Wednesday 20th December 2006 and reopen for business at 0800 hours on 2nd January 2007. I will be checking e-mail occasionally over the holiday period but will only respond to High Priority e-mails. If you need to get in touch urgently then please mark your e-mails accordingly.
30-Nov-06 : Playlist updates
The Listen While You Surf playlist on the front page now features tracks from Best of ZEIT and the demo album Tesla Street.
03-Nov-06 : Concert updates
ZEIT was given a good airing at last weekend's Awakenings event in Leeds. Norman Fay of Veitgrove had his rack-mounting machine on stage and I took along the Desktop Prototype instrument. Both sequencers behaved perfectly, despite Norman's getting bounced across the stage during the set up. I guess that's one less drop-test to perform. More pictures and sound samples will follow in the next few days.
Interest in the sequencer is now very strong. The page counter has went through the 15000 visitor mark overnight and we're thrilled.
We're slowly working our way through the backlog of orders. Software fixes and enhancements are being handled in a similar manner. Remember, at the moment, Infection Music is just two employees, both of whom are working silly hours just to keep on top of things.
19-Aug-06 : Software Update Facility Part 2
The software update facility has been restored following the problems encountered yesterday. Most web browsers don't understand the .syx format that the software archives were stored in - I think they assume that the .syx format is a compressed text file - and corrupt the contents during download.
Software archives are now stored as basic .ZIP format archives and can be unpacked with WinZIP. Mac Users can use ZipIt which is available as a shareware package from (http://www.maczipit.com).
I've updated the web pages and will sort out the relevant section in the on-line manual over the weekend.
18-Aug-06 : Software Update Facility
The software update facility has been removed temporarily. Downloading the source via a web page corrupts the file. I'll get this fixed over the weekend.
17-Aug-06 : Functional Specification updates
I've made a few minor updates to the Functional Specification for the Rack-mounting version of the sequencer.
14-Aug-06 : Software updates now available
Software updates are now available from the Software Updates page.
06-Aug-06: Update
Another sequencer went to its new home this weekend and another two will ship later this week. I'm about to upload the new software download area for those machines already in the field and that will be available later today.
01-Aug-06 : Desktop Unit Update
The Desktop sequencer is more or less up and running. I still have some problems to solve with the internal wiring but, essentially, the guts of the instrument are there.
26-Jul-06: Pricing updates
Now that we're out of the extended R & D phase, we're able to provide improved prices for the ZEIT sequencer. The revised price is now £1099 UKP. (Remember to add VAT if you're within the EU). This is an introductory price and valid until 30th September 2006. Check the Price List for further details.
25-Jul-06: Site updates
A fairly major facelift for most of the Instrument pages.
Updated the images in the Rack-mounting section so that it's more interesting. Additional entries to the FAQ page based on user feedback. Removed password protection on the on-line manual section. Replaced the Samples with a Download page, which should be easier to navigate. Combined the Sales and Pricelist pages into one module. Sales page now includes estimates for shipping within the UK and to the US and Europe. Corrected a couple of minor details in the Price list page. Rolled the Bug Reports and Enhancement pages into the Software Status page. Re-introduced the Scroller at the bottom of the Menu pages 'cos it's cool! Plus ...loads of other minor changes and spelling corrections.
14-Jul-06: Build progress
The pilot build programme for the first batch of machines is now complete. All of the instruments have passed their basic testing and they're ready to ship. The lucky receipients will be notified in the next couple of days.
Meanwhile, here is a small collection of images straight from the photographer.
Enjoy.
10-Jul-06: Build progress
Last week was a good week. We successfully completed 4 new machines, which are currently being checked to ensure that they're ready to ship and then they'll be en-route to their new owners.
I'm a happy man.
22-Jun-06: Software Bugs and Enhancement Pages
As promised, I've added the Software Bug Status and Software Enhancement Status pages to the normal Instrument menu. You need to be either an existing customer or a beta-tester to have access to these pages since they're both currently password protected.
15-Jun-06: Geneva
Way back in January, we shipped the first Zeit sequencers and were full of expectations that all the years of development were at an end and we could begin manufacturing these machines in ernest.
Sadly, nothing went according to plan. Either the machines fell to bits in transit or, once restored, they failed with some obscure electrical problems. In short, we were left with a couple of really big issues to solve.
After many months of careful and painstaking redesign and analysis, I'm now confident that we've eliminated all of the major problems. First and foremost, we've improved the build quality of the units so that they're more rugged and don't fall to pieces en-route to the customer. Secondly, we redesigned the internal electrics, improved the earthing arrangements and repaired a stupid mistake in the MIDI interface.
Last weekend I flew to Geneva, Switzerland to deliver the first true production-level instrument to one of our longest standing customers, Olivier Caillet.
Olivier was kind enough to meet me at the airport. Thankfully, his English is superb and we had no trouble communicating at all. (My French is, at best, dreadfull.) After a short drive, we arrived in his village of Chamblon near Yverdon and we were quickly down to installing the new ZEIT in his studio.
This machine has been tested vigourously on the bench. I also carried this machine on board the aircraft as hand luggage and so it was on the receiving end of some fairly rough handling though nothing like the handling it obviously received when sent as air frieght. It's been through endless power-cycle tests to guarantee that the unit starts up properly. It's been tested for hours with various modules and input devices and I am confident that we delivered a good machine.
Once installed, the new machine began to work exactly as expected. We saw a few ghost triggers on the inputs but those may have been due to the machine settling down following the abuse received during the journey. Olivier and I also suspected that there was an earthing problem in his studio. It was minor and stopped when we switch off his Xeon PC server. Olivier's Macintosh G4 had more severe problems and would lock up completely from time to time.
However, ZEIT continued to function normally and we were able to go through the machine to check that it was working properly.
2 hours later, I was happy. And so was Olivier. After all of the trouble he experienced with the first machine, he now has a new instrument that meets his expectations.
Later, we adjourned to a bar in Yverdon for a few beers and some food. When we returned 2 hours later, ZEIT was still working though, predictably, the Mac G4 had locked up.
We tested Zeit again the following morning and all was well. Olivier was kind enough to drive me to the airport but then SqueezyJet rang to tell me that my flight back to Newcastle had been cancelled. Hence, I found myself in Switzerland for another 24 hours. Olivier very kindly offered to take me for a spot of sightseeing.
That night, we returned to Olivier's house and resumed testing. As before, everything worked just as we expected.
The next morning, we began testing again and found no sign of any problems.
We took a long and very indirect route back to the airport the next morning, driving down the side of Lake Geneva with the Alps rising around us and accompanied by the music of Jean Michel Jarre. Simply unfortgettable.
SleazyJet were able to sort out the problems with the aircraft and I flew home on Sunday night. Olivier has since written to tell me that he has rewired his studio and that Zeit continues to operate as normal. It appears stable and reliable.
Our next step is to ensure that current batch of machines are built to the highest standard so that we can begin shipping again next week. We want to complete the first draft of the user manual before the end of the month and start work on the first round of software changes and enhancements. There's also the issue of the desktop machine to resolve. I expect to make some progress on that machine at the weekend.
So, this really is good news. After all of the ups and downs, delays and extra delays in this project, it looks like we're finally, touch wood, up and running.
Best wishes
David
20-Apr-06: Manual pages placed on-line
I have placed many of the manual pages for the sequencer on-line and available for download. Currently, access is retricted to Beta-testers and Existing Customers. However, if you are seriously considering the purchase of a Zeit sequencer then get in touch and I can send you the link.
14-Mar-06 : Updated samples page plus production ramps up!
At last, I got around to updating the samples page, which was seriously overdue for an update. Click on the Samples option in the menu panel...
We're now well into the first run of beta-tester machines. The picture below shows burn-in day when we switch everything on and see what fails after 72 hours. Included in the picture is the prototype machine since it was in the workshop for a software upgrade.
Note that this is a 4 second time exposure. We didn't just replace all of the LED's with lasers!
I also just noticed that the vistor counter at the bottom of the page has jumped again, this time by around a 1000. Wow. This beast is more popular than we imagined!
26-Jan-06 : Zeit at NAMM 2006 : Now shipping
Zeit made its US debut at the NAMM 2006 exhibition on 20-Jan-06. The beta unit arrived too late for the first day of the show but was on display at the Analogue Haven booth over the weekend where it attracted a great deal of interest.
Thanks to Cary Roberts for the pictures.
19-Jan-06 : Beta-machines : Now shipping
So, finally, here we are. After more than three years in development, the first two beta test Zeit sequencers have shipped at last.
Work on the remaining beta test machines is currently on-going and should keep us busy for the next couple of months. Our order books are certainly very full indeed. The next major task is to get the desktop version up and running. We should have at the NAMM exhibition in California and we'll certainly have something on show at the Frankfurt Musik Messe.
19-Jan-06 : Beta-machines : Bug Report Form
Yes, there's been an addition to the Menu on the left - a Bug Report Form. This form should be used only for sending proper software bug reports to Infection Music. Please don't abuse this facility. Whilst we never tire of receiving bug reports that say '... My knob hurts!...' please don't do it because it just annoys the database administrator.
19-Jan-06 : Beta-machines : The FAQ
I've also updated the FAQ section on the left to reflect the released status of the Sequencer!... Yehhhhhh!!!!!
19-Jan-06 : News from 2005
To read last year's news click here!
Infection Music